Bilston
Staffordshire

In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles
described Bilston like this:

Bilston, market town, W. Staffordshire, 2½ miles SE. of Wolverhampton and within its parl. bor., 139 miles from London by rail, 1845 ac., pop. 22,730; 2 Banks, 2 newspapers. Market-days, Monday and Saturday. It is a great centre of hardware trade -- iron and brass castings, tin and japanned wares, &c., with extensive iron foundries and smelting works, and potteries. ...

In vicinity are productive coal and ironstone mines, also an abundance of fine sand for casting, and a very hard stone suitable for grindstones. It contains eccl. dists. of B. St Leonard, pop. 7181; B. St Luke, 4300; and B. St Mary, 4010.